August 10, 2005
I think I've successfully caught up on my sleep now.
To everyone who picked up GravyBoy at Wizard World Chicago, drop us a line and let us know what you thought. We would like to run some letters in the back of the next issue, and we'd love to hear what you think. You can either let us know at our message board, or you can send an email to mail @ gravyboy.com (remove spaces, they're there to throw spam bots off). Despite our travel adventures, the con itself was really good...at least from the view in Artists Alley. I got to walk around a couple of times...it's almost too much to take in.
-Brian
August 8, 2005
4:15 am: Alarm goes off. Time to head to the airport for our 7:40 flight. The airport is an hour and fifteen minutes away. Shower, get dressed and go over checklist.
4:45 am: Danny arrives. A few minutes later Marty pulls up. We get all the books and extra stuff for the booth distributed between our luggage. We’re looking good, everything fits.
5:00 am: We’re on the road. Right on time. Amazing. Happy, though sleepy, conversations follow.
5:13 am: We hear the tire and pull over. It’s flat. We unload the trunk, get out the spare, the jack…and the….
5:18 am: We come to grips with the fact that there’s no tire iron. We weigh our options. I call the Highway patrol. It’ll be at least 30 minutes before they'll arrive. Danny and I run, in the dark, down the interstate a half-mile or more to the last exit we passed.
5:22: We encounter random barb-wire fences and try and comprehend why they’re necessary and who they’re keeping out. We jump over them will little to no injuries.
5:24 - 5:40 am: We get the clerk at the Holiday Inn. He’s clearly been sleeping. He didn’t drive to work, and doesn’t have a tire iron. We run next door to Cracker Barrel. They’re not open and the people inside apparently have a policy of not opening the back door under any circumstances. We run to a Hampton Inn where the staff is actually working. A very trusting Indian lady takes us out to her car in the dark…stands there while we rummage through her trunk looking for her tire iron. We find it. She offers us her keys so we can drive back to the car instead of running. We decline, startled at her generosity.
5:55 am: I realize that two mile runs before the sun comes up are not for me...especially on an empty stomach. I think for a minute I might actually throw up. I do not.
6:00 am: Marty realizes the tire iron doesn’t fit his car. We also realize the Highway Patrol is a useless entity. We call a cab. Danny takes the tire iron and runs it back to the nice lady at the Hampton Inn.
6:05 am: The Indian lady pulls up with Danny in her car. We thank her and she drives back to work.
6:15 am: The cab arrives. We lock up the car, leave it for Marty’s wife to take care of, and the cab driver (an avid golfer who kept getting phone calls from a guy having an affair who wanted the taxi to come pick up his mistress before his wife got home) makes his way to the airport.
7:10 - 8: 30 am: We get through security okay…we’re looking good. Unfortunately, our plane, which can hold 100+ is only going to be taking 65 people because they need less people and more gas due to some weather or some such nonsense. Our tickets don’t have seat assignments…we’re the lucky ones bumped to another airline. (we receive free tickets for the trouble, so we’ll be going to the San Diego con next year, booyah!) We get another plane and get airborne. From here it’s pretty smooth.
Friday through Sunday: The con is a very good learning experience. Friday we sell nothing. We get some tips on Saturday morning and that day we sell almost 50 books. Friday night I was more tired than I had been in years. I’m out by 10:00. Saturday night, after a successful day promoting the book, we eat dinner at the hotel sports bar and later shoot the breeze with some guys we met at the con. We hang out for a while at the table next to Jay (Jason Mewes) who is surrounded by pretty girls and some guy who the guys at our table decide must be rich. Silent Bob is nowhere to be found.
Saturday night the hotel lobby gets a little crazy as some guys attempt to recreate what I think were Ric Flair's best moves. Security drops a stink bomb to break it up. We head to bed around 2:30 when the lights get turned up bright in an attempt to clear the area. You just can’t beat the tactics of hotel security.
Sunday was slowish but better than Friday. Met some people we’ve talked to on the net and put faces with names. We pack up and get on the shuttle to the airport. I notice Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith getting into a limo next to us. We, however, are packed like sardines into a van/bus. We head to the airport where we hope to avoid any more fun and games.
Sunday 5:10 pm: our flight leaves at 5:55. We are sent to the curbside check-in so can make it on time. Danny is selected for a secondary screening. But, with a surname like McCormick, you can’t blame them for being suspicious. %@$ Irish.
5:10- 5:30 pm: He’s sent from line to line. A airport worker tries to talk to an agent and then a supervisor eventually overriding his secondary screening (which would have made him miss the flight. Who can blame the airport though...it’s just aviation, not like it’s an exact science.)
7:00pm : Our 5:55pm flight leaves the ground. The cabin is very hot.
10:30pm: we go to claim our baggage in Raleigh. This is made difficult by its absence.
10:45 pm: We discover our luggage was put on a different flight…one landing an hour a half later. We make arrangements for it to be delivered to our homes.
11:40 pm: I finally arrive home…check email…go to bed. Completely and utterly tired.
1:30 am: The phone rings. Our bags have arrived. I try my best to tell the gentleman how to get to my house. I tell him to leave the bags on the porch. This requires me to get up and leave a note on the door.
Monday 7:45 am: The doorbell rings. My bags are at the door. I wonder why the airline doesn’t want me to sleep.
And that, ladies and gents, is my weekend in a nutshell.
I’m going to bed.
-Brian
August 5, 2005
-Brian
August 3, 2005
Friday morning I'll be hauling myself out of bed at suck 'o clock to go through the checklist one more time and then wait on Marty and Danny to show up so we can make the hour and a half trip to Raleigh. There we'll catch our non-stop flight to Chicago. As usual our books cut it close in getting to us before the con. Issue 2 is finally in (now available for purchase at our new online store) and we got two more runs of issues 0 and 1 as well. We should probably keep up with how many issues we've unloaded on people.
If you're going to be at Wizard World Chicago, you'll find us in the 9000's section of Artist Alley. I'd be more specific, but that's all we know.
See you there!
-Brian